This article was published here in July 2022 and has won wide support, but it has also been Three or five beasts bite at random Personal attacks (such as the following figure). I don't want to give you something I wrote This generation is unworthy of reading Look, I simply deleted it. It is now decided to reissue it, in order to let as many readers as possible know the truth, what is the complete works of Borges, including this one, translated into Chinese, and leave a record for history. (The editor in charge of this book sent me a private letter after reading it and asked me to participate in the revision. I refused and released the screenshot of the private letter, because I asked the translator to apologize publicly and take the book off the shelf.)
Another reason is that Shanghai Translation Publishing House has launched Borges related courses, and Wang Tianai is on the list of speakers——
Two years ago, a college student named Gao gave a 2-star rating to the Chinese version of Truce and commented that "machine translation marks are serious". Han Ye, the translator, called it a personal attack. Wang Tianai, the translator's friend, forwarded the question and put it on the line. Yang Junning, the translator's friend, sent a letter to the school leaders after the commentator's message, calling the reader a "failing student" and hoping the school would "save".
Yang Junning is the most disgusting to write a tip off letter, but Wang Tianai is the best person to handle the student. Wang is the editor of World Literature, and the small circle of Spanish speakers dare not offend the school lords. This can be seen from the attitude of Gao's teacher (Beijing Language and Culture University) begging Wang Xiaowei for forgiveness. Gao finally apologized publicly.
Human flesh, tip offs, pressure, threats... All this is due to a common comment on Douban, which shows the arrogance and ugliness of the three cultural people. In addition, Wang Tianai was awarded the honorary title of "Excellent Young and Middle aged Translator" by the China Translation Association in March this year.
The translation of Bosch's complete works has broken through hundreds of low-level translation errors. Now, in collaboration with Wang Tianai, who has such a style of work, I want to "guide" the readers in the dark to read Borges. I feel that it is necessary to let as many people as possible know, Countless people worship and collect The complete works of Bosch, How about the quality 。
The version published on his public account "This Generation Matters" is the original version. Since the public account cannot be modified, a large number of translation errors found subsequently cannot be added. He plans to publish an updated version on his public account in the near future. Please forward your support.
This book is just over 60000 words, and there are more than 100 low-level translation errors. This book is only over one hundred pages long. If you turn to any page, you will find that there is a wrong translation. This book ranks sixth in the top 10 popular literature review books of Douban, with 2404 people scoring up to 9 points. This book was first published by Shanghai Translation Publishing House in 2002, renamed and republished in 2008, and published as one of a series in 2011. In 2015, it was included in the complete works of Borges and spread among human fallacies, It has been 22 years 。 —— If I hadn't found out and wasted time pointing out, how long would I cheat the readers? Should such a book full of mistakes continue to spread around the world and harm readers? Even if Shanghai Translation Publishing House is unwilling to recall the retranslation, should it make a minimum apology?
Zhao Wuping, Deputy Chief Editor of Shanghai Translation Publishing House and Director of the New Text Publishing Center, said that, "If we just want to meet the market demand, we can also print the previous version directly, but we don't Because we think that they are also flower growers. Since this flower has come to us, we must pay attention to it. "
The report also said that Four editors of the translated version of the Complete Works of Borges, graduate students from Peking University, Nantah University and Fudan University Some of them have followed the project for more than 10 years. "The previous version can save some time for soliciting contributions, but, The work and effort of editors will not be reduced. The way of revision is the way we work on all books 。” Zhou Ran believed that, Compared with the previous version, the new version has made a lot of additions and corrections The quality of the text has been improved.
Let's take a look at the truth of the translation of Shiyi.
This book is Borges' six lectures on the art of poetry. The author uses English, and is simple and clear spoken English. Many sentences do not need to be compared with the original, but can be judged to be wrong only by reading the translation. I wonder whether the translator has read them or not.
“ I wonder if Arnold happened to meet Captain Burton when he was translating The Thousand and One Nights; Maybe he met it too late 。”
The translation of Captain Burton into "Captain Burton" is not a mistake unique to the translator of this book. The same mistake was made in the translation of Brody's Report and Other Collections of Inquiry. Richard Francis Burton is a British soldier and adventurer. Captain should be his rank, not "captain".
I do not know why he brought across Captain Burton's translation of the Arabian Nights; perhaps he did so too late.
Come across means "meet", but this is "meet across Captain Burton's translation", read Burton's translation《 The one thousand one night 》。 The original text is very simple, and I don't know how to misinterpret it to the present situation.
“ Because if we want to read a word for word translation of a foreign poem, we may also expect to find some exotic flavor in the poem. But if we find it, we will be disappointed ！”
Expect to find - really find - disappointed. Such a translation is really baffling and disappointing. The original text can also be understood by junior high school students: If we do not find it, we feel somehow disappointed.
“ This book also has no characters, or flat characters 。” "Flat people", a footnote in this book points out that Foster The concept proposed is opposite to the three-dimensional round figure. Since we know what flat characters are, how can the translator explain that "this book has no characters, or flat characters"?
And we have no characters, or rather flat characters“
"Here is a good analogy:" a meeting of anger ". Maybe when we think of parties, we usually think of the friendship between friends and brothers, The metaphor here is impressive; What I want to talk about next is a sharp contrast, an angry meeting 。”
The translator has the ability to make simple sentences clouded, and then there comes the contrast, the meeting of anger.
What are the translators talking about—— "The metaphor here is rather impressive; what I want to talk about next is a sharp contrast, an angry meeting." There is no "next", and the next paragraph talks about something else.
“ The second line of the poem has an appendix , explaining that... "The second line sends us to a footnote, why should footnotes be translated into appendices to create paradoxical dyslexia?
“ No one can put their feet into the same water twice ”, No man steps twice into the same river. River is not "water", everyone "can put their feet into the same water twice" - foot wash basin.
“ Because even if you are as good as Homer, sometimes you have to nod your head and admit your mistake ” ， when sometimes even excellent Homer nods， Homer sometimes nods off, which means that outstanding writers also have failures. It has become a proverb, not "nodding to admit mistakes".
“ It is a kind of literary oath he made "after living for most of his life" . "There is a problem with intuition, and sure enough: he composed" in the middle of life's way ". What is Dante's poem quoted here" in the middle of life "," I have lived most of my life "?
"Borges' education is absolutely profound, and the theme of his works is often obviously integrated with autobiographical elements—— that is no end for learning Subject of 。” "The theme of endless learning"? the theme of the world as an infinite library， The world is the theme of an infinite library. This is the theme that Borges wrote many times, and the translator does not know it.
This book quotes a large number of poems, thanks to the translator, I skip reading them. Most of the poems quoted by the author are famous poems, and there are ready-made or even multiple translations. Unfortunately, the translators have all picked them up. Look at Stevenson's famous poem:
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from the sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.
Borges' evaluation of this poem is plain language. Can the translator pick it up
"Those who lie here are well enough;
A sailor's home is on the sea,
The hunter's home is on the hill. "
The poet said that lying in the grave was like a sailor returning home from the sea or a hunter going down the mountain. "A sailor's home is on the sea" and a hunter's home is on the mountain ". What are you talking about?
There are many mistakes in the translation of Norse and Norseman in the whole book 。 "One Norsk "," these metaphors are in Norwegian "," written by Norwegian writers "," lonely and moral Norwegians "," Saxon version of the Norwegian god Thor "
The book refers to "ancient Scandinavians", "ancient Scandinavians", not "Norwegians" or "Norwegians". Ancient Nordic literature was Borges' favorite.
“ And《 Asceticism 》(This is the first book I read after I moved to California.) ”When did Borges move to the West Coast of the United States? "And also Roughing It (the first days in California)".
"A hundred mistakes have been made", "If you turn to any page, there are mistakes in Chengdu". They are not just talking about it.
The current writing method may not be intuitive enough for many people. Now let's show the five consecutive pages. These five pages are all errors. Each page has more than one error, even one error to the end. In a word, the garbage level of this book is beyond the impression of the original comment before you read the update, and also beyond my own imagination (more mistakes, more mistakes).
It is also an understatement to count the number of mistranslations. Because the translator can't understand the original text at all, a wrong translation can lead to the incomprehensibility of the whole paragraph and the whole page.
Page 87
"In the 19th century, there was a Greek philosopher who is now almost forgotten Newman ", originally known as Greek scholar.
"His goal is to publish a book that can Homer A translation "against" Pope's Homer Pope Homer in translation.
Page 88:
“ Matthew Arnold It points out that the translation of literary works is to achieve the realm of oddity and uncouthness. "
It's a big mistake. It's ridiculous. Matthew Arnold pointed out that a literal translation make for disorder and for ambiguity. The unreadable translator then turned Arnold's criticism of "literary translation" into affirmation and praise.
This sentence clearly said that "Matthew Arnold pointed out that 'word for word translation' would cause the translation to be eccentric and clumsy". The translator can't even understand whether to scold or boast. He translates the "derogatory" oddity into "praise" of "strange style", and the "incoherence" of "scolding" into "praise" of "elegant style". Since the translator has attached the original text, won't he check the dictionary?
It is also worth affirming that the names of people are translated correctly. thank.
"But I don't think anyone will really translate the phrase" I fail cold "into" It makes cold "."
Yes I don't think anyone should translate.
One of the Five Star Short Comments on Douban : (Translator) Chen Chongren is very great
Page 89 ：
"We will think that the translation is really based on the literal meaning, but this is not the grammar we really use."
We should feel that this was a literal translation but hardly a true one "We will think that the translation is really based on the literal meaning", almost, "but this is not the grammar we really use" - revealing the original form. What Borges wanted to say was that "this statement is not really a translation", but hardly a true one， The translator is afraid that we will understand.
"I don't know Captain Burton When translating "One Thousand and One Nights", did Arnold just meet him; Maybe he met it too late. " As explained above.
Douban Five star Short Comment 2 : Translator's conscience, dare not not play five-star+Translator too hard! How many languages, how much information, and how much blood to spit? A bow
Continue to page 91:
"In fact, as Matthew Arnold once pointed out, it may be said that word for word translation can not only achieve the effect of strange writing and elegant style, but also achieve the effect of strangeness and beauty."
It's a big mistake, as has been pointed out above. It might be said that literal translations make not only, as Matthew Arnold pointed out, for uncouthness and oddity , but also for strangeness and beauty.
"But I think it is totally different". This, I think, is felt by all of us， It's simply "I think everyone can feel it", and I can feel what I said in the previous sentence verbatim translation The effect achieved. Is it abusive to say that the translator is incompetent?
"Because if we want to read a word for word translation of a foreign poem, we may also expect to find some exotic flavor in the poem. But if we do find it, we will feel disappointed!" has been explained above.
None of this paragraph is right. In the next paragraph, every sentence is wrong.
"Now we want to read the best and most famous English translation", the original said one of the finest and most fast, but let's forget it.
"The first paragraph of this poem says this: (Quote a quatrain below)"《 rubaiyat 》It is a collection of four lines of poetry. What is quoted here is not "the first paragraph of this poem (which one?)", but "the first poem of this collection". Original text: The first stanza runs thus ... The translator lacks common sense and does not do homework.
Douban Five star Short Comment 3 :... Needless to say, the speech itself was well translated and summarized. Borges talked about three ways of translation. The first is that the translator should convey the characteristics of the work, even if there is no such condition in the text. The translation of literary works is to achieve strange style and elegant style
Error continuing on page 92:
"Look! Hunters in the East Already confused by the twilight
And captured the Sultan's tower. "
This poem is about sunrise, and the translator cannot understand it. If you can read it, how can you "get lost in the twilight"? Originally in a daze of light
"This poem is written by Swinburne and Rossetti The book was discovered in a second-hand bookstore.
"Rossetti and Swinburne both felt the beauty of this translation, but I doubt that if Fitzgerald What is introduced to you is the original text of this book, not the translated works (in fact, some parts of this book are really the original text)... Will they allow Fitzgerald to translate this poem in this way? "
Can you read it? if they would have felt this beauty had FitzGerald presented the Rubáiyát as an original (partly it was original) rather than as a translation. Would they think FitzGerald should have been allowed to say... What Borges means is that if they read Fitzgerald's Rubaiji is not a translation, not backed by the original text, but Fitzgerald's original, can they accept these strange metaphors and expressions? Because it is the translation, the reader can accept it, and will think that the original is so, and the translator has to be so, and then appreciate the beauty in it.
"There is an appendix in the second line of this poem, explaining that..." As explained above.
One of the Four Star Short Comments on Douban :...... The weakness in poetry translation is that poetry translation is not good enough ……
We have read five consecutive pages, all of which are errors. This does not mean that there will be no errors on page 6. There are three additional items on page 93:
"I doubt whether Fitzgerald will write such sentences as" noose of light "or" sultan's turret "in his poems."
And I wonder if FitzGerald would have been allowed... It is not "will you write in your own poem", but is allowed and accepted. See above for reasons.
"I think we can safely discuss this sentence in another paragraph of the poem."
But I think that we can safely dwell on a single line—a line which is to be found in one of the other stanzas， What is "this sentence can also be found in another paragraph of the poem"? Mr. Borges said that the next sentence to be discussed was in another poem.
"We will accept a sentence like... because we assume that there is Persian "
There is a Persian original behind it， This sentence is supported by the Persian original.
Do you want to write down?
Edit private message in July 2022:
"This translation has a long history. When we checked the work before, we also noticed that it still has some room for improvement. But because of the huge project of Borges, I can't spare any time to revise it carefully. Your opinion makes me realize that the revision work is urgent and should be started immediately", which is too understatement.
Even though "we have noticed that there is room for improvement", we still publish boldly, which is not the right way to treat cultural undertakings and readers. Moreover, even from the edition of the complete works of Borges in 2015, this great book has been published for seven years, and its errors are numerous. Ninety nine percent of the readers are in the dark, and they give 9 favorable comments.
Today, someone pointed out that the response was that it had been discovered early that "it was impossible to make any amendments at the moment", The "one time" here is more than seven years 。 If I hadn't wasted my time and energy pointing out, "One moment" may become "one lifetime" , also unknown.
The full text of the private letter with the responsible editor is as above and made public. Because the dialogue involves public interests, it does not involve privacy. The way of "private" is not in my consideration at first. In short, it is for good books to be spoiled and time to be wasted. In short, it is for potential readers and misled readers. Therefore, what I expect is a public apology from Shanghai Translation Publishing House (even if it is not recalled off the shelf). It will be republished after being corrected quietly. If you know what you know, you will know what you know. If you don't know what you know, it is difficult to call it a mending act. It will only allow the pernicious mistranslation to continue.
This is the first time that I exposed garbage translation on the Internet (July 2022). Of course, the garbage in the translation is the only thing I have ever seen in my life. In 2022, the proofreading of Liang Peilan's Collected Works by Zhonghua Book Company and the History of American Education by Social Science Literature Press were exposed to a large number of errors, and then they were quickly removed from the shelves, It made me realize that defective books, like other commodities, can also be punished and held accountable 。 However, the initiator of the History of Education is a university teacher, who has a wide circle. The matter soon ferments and gets news reports. I'm just an ordinary reader, Two years later, I can't do anything 。
Two years ago, when I exposed Poetic Arts, I said, "When I thought of readers of Truce commenting on the Internet, I was informed by the translator and her friends that they wrote a tip off letter to the school, calling it a" failing student ", Unexpectedly, today Shanghai Translation Publishing House invited Wang Tianai to "explain" Borges, forming a loop.
I waste my time and energy. I'm afraid that in the end, it's just the publisher who secretly corrects the mistakes I pointed out when republishing them, and then "Paying attention to" "painstaking efforts" "is the way we work on all books" Let's say it again. I became a free worker for the editors of famous universities.
There are a lot of translation errors in this book, so I'm too lazy to write. I have always wanted to sort out the exposed parts and add and reissue them. At present, I just copy and paste them. Do no hard work and be stolen by others. Let's go first.
If you are so angry about Borges being abused by the translator, and if you are not willing to accept the cooperation between the translator and Wang Tianai to "explain" Borges, please try your best to forward support. Our appeal is reasonable: the translator apologizes publicly, the books are taken off the shelves, and the cooperation with the academic clique is terminated.
My public account is "the matter of this generation". In order to pay tribute to the cooperation between the translators and the scholars, in addition to issuing the updated version of the low-level errors in The Art of Poetry, we will also publish the third edition of the complete works of poetry with low-level errors.
